Patient advocates warn
Staff shortages in nursing homes cause alarm
24.05.2024, 02:33 a.m.
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According to nursing associations and patient advocates, the current situation in nursing homes is dramatic. There is already a shortage of staff. The problem could worsen in the coming years – unless countermeasures are taken.
Patient advocates and nursing associations have expressed alarm at the increasing shortage of staff in nursing homes. “Nursing care in Germany is no longer guaranteed in many places,” said the President of the German Nursing Council, Christine Vogler, to the newspapers of the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND). There is a shortage of around 115,000 full-time professional nurses in long-term inpatient care alone. At the same time, the number of people in need of care is increasing, which is further exacerbating the situation.
“The warning signs are visible everywhere, for example in the high level of sickness,” Vogler continued. “The care system is crumbling and trust in it is dwindling.” The chairman of the German Foundation for Patient Protection, Eugen Brysch, warned of the consequences for patients and of the high number of unreported cases of shortages in nursing homes. “Nursing home residents are defenseless against neglect. This violation of dignity is usually endured in silence, humbly and without complaint,” he told the RND newspapers.
Verena Bentele, President of the VdK, is also alarmed. “The crux of the problem in inpatient care is the lack of staff: A lack of staff leads to frustration, overwork and illness. And ultimately to even fewer nursing staff because many are quitting their jobs,” she said.
Reforms called for
The associations demanded better pay for nursing staff. VdK President Bentele demanded “a softening of the boundaries between inpatient and outpatient care: alternative housing and care options must be offered and expanded.”
Nursing Council President Vogler called for “a reorganization of competencies within the health professions.” Investments must be made in education and permeable educational pathways, in cross-sectoral functioning structures, in safe and health-preserving working conditions, in digitization and in artificial intelligence. Unnecessary bureaucracy must be reduced.